Last week, 3 people in the Bronx were diagnosed with a disease called Leptospirosis. This disease is carried by rats and is often spread via contact with urine. One has died and the other 2 are in the hospital due to the disease.
New York City gets, on average, one to three cases of this illness per year throughout the city. They are rarely clustered. All 3 of the infected this time live within 1 block of each other, and all got infected within the past 2 months. The disease is most common in both humans and pets during the late Summer and early Fall.
Pets, especially dogs, are more prone to infection – which is caused by rat urine entering the body via mouth, eyes, open wound, etc. There is a vaccine for the disease for dogs, but in needs to be administered yearly. Humans can get the disease from an infected dog.
Leptospirosis is a disease that is commonly found in rat urine, but can also be found with mice. Houses with rat infections need to have the infestation properly removed and the space thoroughly cleaned.